340 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



Culture. The squash plant is very tender: it is de- 

 stroyed by frost, and the seed is apt to fail in cold ground. 

 The proper practice is to have the soil previously well cul- 

 tivated, but to delay planting seed or transplanting seed- 

 lings from the covered bed until the time is frost-free and 

 the soil warm. The culture of the squash is therefore like 

 that already prescribed for the cucumber and for melons, 

 in the chapters devoted to those subjects, to which the 

 reader is referred. The bush varieties of squashes follow 

 the cucumber in distances, and the running varieties fol- 

 low watermelon distances. There is, however, some dif- 

 ference in the practice of growers of the running varieties : 

 some advocate rather close planting, as six by six or eight 

 by eight feet in squares, and others plant at wider dis- 

 tances, even to setting two plants in a place at intervals 

 of 14 feet apart. It is impossible to state any specific dis- 

 tance at best : it is to be determined locally according to 

 the growth which the local soil and climate produce. One 

 is apt to err on the side of crowding than otherwise. 



Care must be had not to cover the seed too deeply. It 

 must be firmly placed in moist soil and covered enough to 

 avoid quick drying. The suggestions in the chapter on 

 propagation are as definite as they can be made, accord- 

 ing to the character of the soils employed. 



Cultivation must be begun as soon as possible after 

 planting, to save moisture from loss either by weeds or 

 evaporation, and must be frequent for the same reason. 

 Nothing looks more distressful than squash vines perish- 

 ing on baked clay or dry sandy soil which, if properly 

 cultivated from the start, would have sustained a splendid 

 growth. 



Garden Culture. In addition to injunctions for 

 thorough working of the soil and adequate irrigation, 

 there is the opportunity in garden culture to produce 

 grand results by special fertilization. Careful use of the 

 compost or liquid manure, described in the chapter on fer- 

 tilization, produces marvelous results. 



